oatmeal, chocolate chip and pecan cookies
Someone asked me yesterday how I manage the day job, this site, cooking, hobbies and attempting some semblance of a social life, but I didn’t answer because the gritty truth is that I don’t. I’m horrible at time management, not because I’m a slacker so much as I lack an attention span of more than 12 minutes. Take tonight. I swore I’d leave work at 5:30, but left at 6:20 instead (still earlier than last night), I had planned to give you guys a pie crust how-to but instead flitted from one thing (side project) to another (Thanksgiving thumbnails in sidebar) and as usual it’s 11 p.m. and oh right! I haven’t updated yet today.
It’s not a complaint, mind you. Somehow it almost always works out in the end, so who cares if the path meanders? But I do have one rule only, and that is that I am not allowed to complain about being busy. Yes, I have done it before, but I try to shut down that line of thinking as soon as it happens, because I think it leads to revving motors in place/stressing about stressing/getting caught up in the act of being and not doing, oh, and also, it’s really boring to hear about. I mean, have you ever met a person not busy? Yeah, me neither.
Why go on about this today? Well, I was going to say that I’ve been meaning to share an oatmeal cookie recipe with you for some time but I’ve been too busy, but then I remembered I’m not allowed to say that. So instead I’ll admit that I haven’t shared one because oatmeal cookies range so widely from the thin and lacy to the thick and cakey and it seems impossible to make one that meets every single person’s expectations. And I hate being unable to please everyone.
Yet, somehow this one does. It’s not too thin and not too thick, soft in the middle but crisp on the outside. That’s not all the divides it straddles elegantly; it manages to be both grown-up–with orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves–but young at heart–with chocolate chips instead of the traditional raisins. It also distinctly reminded me of that season that has been all but canceled this year. Maybe if we all bake some, we can lure it back.
One year ago: No-Knead Bread
Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
By Katy Sparks with Andrea Strong
I found the orange zest a little strong, as did many of the commenters on Epicurious, but Alex and the three friends I shared them with last week loved them just the way they were. I’d consider your own personal taste when making these, perhaps start with just a microplane or two of zest, and adding the rest if the batter tastes like it could use more. What, you don’t eat raw cookie batter? I’m sorry, we can’t be friends anymore.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2 cups chopped pecans
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment or a Silpat (rubber nonstick baking mat). Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, about 3 minutes. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half. Stir in the oats, pecans, orange zest, and chocolate chips. Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack. Store at room temperature in a cookie jar or other airtight container.
YUM YUM Gimme Some!
Please tell me one of those bags is destined for Houston? *looks sad and mopes with big eyes*
yum! this will be a perfect treat for my family on christmas morning as my father LOVES oatmeal cookies!
i have a question for you! when you started this blog, did you have any idea that it would be where it is at today - did you hope you might get to this point. it truly is quite amazing and a great accomplishment. you should be quite proud of yourself!
cheers - off to chicago to enjoy some amazing cuisine and a lovely wine, cheese, and chocolate bar - it’s called eno - A-MAZ-ING!!! no charlie trotters this time though :0(
Wow, those look incredible! I love your blog, it’s so beautiful!
In “Cookwise”, Shirley O. Corriher has a description of how to alter cookie recipes to get them thick, thin, or in between. It’s a subtle tinkering and nobody else has ever made it make sense to me before. Highly recommend.
I love oatmeal cookies but for me it’s about the raisins. Baked-in raisins….mmmmm. They make any cookie rise to sublime for me. Although lately I’m really liking dried cherries in baked goods and chicken salads (either grilled or mayo’d). I’m rambling now!!!!
Welcome back!
yummy yummy
I love all the photography, and great job with blogging every day!! I don’t know how you do it - I still haven’t updated my “promise you folks a new recipe in a few days” for almost a month!
These look tasty. Maybe you should point others to this landmark study if they are looking to achieve your levels of productivity: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/study_finds_working_at_work. It’s definitely given me something to think about… ;-)
I’m not mad about orange zest, but oat meal cookies — Love ‘em!
Don’t burn yourself out. Kick back and have some cookies, a glass of milk and watch a good movie.
haha, yeah, honestly I don’t know how I manage all of my daily activities/time either - but regardless, baking/cooking always takes priority :0)
I love the addition of pecans in the oatmeal cookies - have you ever tried them with carob chips? it’s quite scrumptious.
Hey people–Sorry for all the downtime today! Basically, my host has moved smittenkitchen.com to a private/bigger server which as you can see, is barely functioning, so there are a lot of kinks to be worked out, much to our frustration.
We are way overdue to move to a better/more reliable host as well as make a few other site upgrades, however, so if any of you know any top-notch Wordpress gurus that want to work for a hopefully fair fee, tons of glory and possibly even baked goods, have them drop me an email. thesmitten [at] gmail [dot] com
And now, back to our regularly scheduled cookies. Mm, chocolate chips….
I’ve always put pecans in my chocolate-chip cookies because it’s how my dad likes them best. And if those bags aren’t the cutest things YET I just don’t know what is. Martha?
Orange zest, YUM! I like a little something tart to offset all that sweetness, I usually use tart cherries.
By the way, I have SUCH pixel envy, your photos are gorgeous.
yum these looks so tasty - chocolate chip oatmeal are my favorite.! I love those little gift bags. they’re so adorable!
tams - enjoy Chicago! Its my favorite :) eno is great but Bin 36 is my favorite Chitown wine spot. If you haven’t already, you must check it out. Sit at the bar and order a flight…or two!
I have to tell you how much I love your site. I wish I had had this recipe for oatmeal cookies a few days ago when I was busy baking for a bake sale. Your writing is so entertaining and engrossing, and I especially enjoyed your recent post on food photography. The photos on smitten kitchen are always quite lovely and their quality speaks for itself. Bravo!
If you’ll believe it, Deb, I just came online in desperate search for an oatmeal cookie recipe and thought to myself:
“Where am I going to look? Deb’s never posted one, and she’s my go to for recipes that I trust to turn out”
So I checked. And this post was here. I’m going to buy ingredients now ;)
Deb, if you find a more reliable host, please let me know. I use Dreamhost and they’re driving me bonkers.
Hi Radish — When I do, I will tell the world. I have increased my bandwidth availability by 1000% today (yes, 10 times) and its still on the fritz. We will be changing hosts very shortly.
You know that’s a mighty big promise to fulfill! If those cookies are as perfect as you say (and I love nearly ALL kinds of oatmeal cookies) then you may be proof that angels walk among us. If they don’t–well then, I probably did something wrong while making them and you might want to send me a bag immediately so that I don’t go on a rant. You wouldn’t want that, right?
You make me hungry every day at work…..I can’t wait to get home and make cookies now!
I feel like I have gained a few pounds reading your blog daily!
well, I use Yahoo for my host.. so far so good.. and my site is using a ton on storage.
I made these cookies monday night.. o-m-g. Tasty.
Glad youre back, i was worried. I was gonna offer to be your back up nablamopoyoyohoho for a day.
These cookies look delicious, I love oatmeal/chocolate chip combinations! I was just planning to make your blondies & adding choc. chips, coconut & some oatmeal & cinnamon but I think I’ll make the cookies instead.
Also, i’m coming to NYC next weekend to visit my sis and wondered if you had any restaurant recommendations for casual dining & yummy food. Ethnic suggestions (Thai/Indian etc.) are great too.
Thanks!
Amazing photos & delicious sounding recipe for a cookie I will love!
Niiice. Are those Martha bags?
YUM. Those just made me crave cookies! Must not look at food blogs when I’m trying not to eat dessert…
I LOVE those bags! Did you make them or buy them?
The bags are from Martha Stewart Crafts… I could spend all day drooling over that site. In fact, I just might.
I recently received a plethora of wonderful things from Martha Stewart crafts, like those bags. Aren’t they the best? I, too, could spend many an hour looking at them! Oh, the cookies look good, too. ;-)
Love your blog. I come on almost everyday to check out the lovely photos and your recipes. Hope you have time for a question. Your oatmeal cookie recipe calls for quick cooking oats. Is there a difference if I use rolled oats instead?
how should I alter recipe if I only have regular, old fashioned (not quick cooking) oats?
Cheng, lj — I actually think both will work. The old-fashioned ones might have a slightly more noticeable texture, but in my mind at least, that’s not a bad thing. Good luck!
Deb, you could seriously start a business selling the desserts you make. Just look at those gift bags!! I know you have a pretty great day job, but it’s a nice back up option just in case. :)
I went to the Design*Sponge Biz-Lady meetup last night in Chicago and someone had brought along these cookies to share. Other than hearing Grace of Design*Sponge talk about PR, the highlight of the evening was definitely this cookie. What a fabulous recipe. Can’t wait to try it myself.
So, I don’t even particularly care for oatmeal cookies. In fact, I’d probably never pick up an oatmeal cookie given the choice between that and any other kind of cookie. That being said, I knew I had to try this recipe the moment I read it. I made them tonight, omitting the orange zest (because I forgot to buy an orange) and substituting walnuts for pecans (because the store was out of bulk pecans)…and they are loooovely!
Also…I just got a KitchenAid mixer from, clearly, the best friends I’ll ever have, and this was my christening recipe…I’ve named him Duncan…and I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (since I don’t think I can legally marry a mixer). Sorry, I know that was off-topic, but I also knew you’d appreciate my love of Duncan more than anybody else I know.
Now this makes me obscenely happy . . . I think I’m going to substitute chopped dried cranberries for the orange zest though.
This is my first comment to your blog after a few months of lurking and drooling over recipes. I made a batch of these cookies this evening, and they are quite possibly the most perfect oatmeal cookie! Grown-up taste, crispy outside, soft inside, and delicious. I used fresh Louisiana pecans and navel oranges for the zest, which made them even more perfect. My recipe made almost 4 dozen regular-sized cookies. Thank you!
Did anyone else’s turn out rock hard? I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Maybe I made them too big, because I had to bake them for 15-20 minutes to get them brown. I’d appreciate any suggestions–the taste is great!
I am now addicted to these cookies. Thank you. :)
i saw a link to this recipe on flickr and just made it. these are amazing! i think i might love you (in a non-skeevy way, of course). just added you to my blogroll and as a flickr contact so i can keep up with what you’re whippin’ up. thank you :)
I made these for an advent party yesterday and they got rave reviews as the ‘best cookies ever’. thanks for the recipe!
Oh my!!! I just made these today. I knew they were going to be good when I couldn’t stop eating the batter. Now I can’t stop eating the cookies. I love the orange flavor with the chocolate. Great recipe!
Just a question: Is there a trick to converting cookies like this into bars? Or just put them in a 9X13 and extra time?
love love love your site. made these last night! I used maple syrup instead of brown sugar and almond slivers instead of cashews, and it tastes great.
This recipe is amazing! I made some changes and was able to create a 7-grain cookie without losing any of the texture! I swapped nuts for coconut and sprinked them with glittery purple sugar for my prospective little nieces.
You are a true wordsmith and recipe diva.. thank you so much for sharing these fantastic recipes!
:)
Oh my God! These cookies are amazing! I thought I’d tried them all but your recipe really makes the kind of cookies I like! I used 1 and 3/4 cups of brown sugar (didn’t use any white) and I didn’t have any oranges so I used the zest of one clementine. Used steel cut oats since that’s what I had on hand -I also had no nuts so I omitted those as well. I baked a bit longer too - I guess mine were a bit big. AMAZING! I LOVE THEM! Thanks for what you do!
Jennifer…….when the cookies are done they won’t “look done” (advice from Alton Brown). They should just be brown around the edges I think. Mine were chewy and crispy at the same time I think due to so much brown sugar……YUM!
Wowza!
I just recently found your blog and I am somewhat obsessed. You truly inspire… Honestly, when I read what you’re cooking, it makes me want to do it too!
And my husband thanks you for these cookies. :) They might be the best I’ve had/made. Just to change it up a little, I omitted the orange peel (didn’t have em) & added dried cranberries & chocolate chips. Ridiculous.
Thanks for sharing your culinary brain with the world!!